Forums → Forum Games → Mulling over an Idea [RP Conceptualization]

It certainly would be a unique concept, as a RP writer myself on this forum I welcome anyone who would like create one. You have to be flexible to do an RP as you can't really stop a player from doing what he or she wants, only to regulate and determine what you feel is appropriate. A good RP player will usually listen to whatever rules you set out or make and can offer their own ideas to help. If you have any questions regarding making an RP, ask me and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

First, Welcome to Armor Games!

Second, sounds like an interesting game, depending on how you want to play it could be basically an online board-game, or a fully open-world RP/RPG like I have seen and done before. If you have any questions I am a seasoned veteran like Mordex(who is one of the best at running RP/RPGs).
I would also recommend considering talking to JACKinbigletters as he is one of the best players of RP/RPGs I have ever seen.

I thank you for your words silver but I humbly disagree on that matter. Anyways, what kind of game were you thinking of? Mostly exploritive? Mostly revolving around battle sequences? Or shying away from them and keeping it a more socially based game? Of course you can do all three in any fashion you like, but it's good to have a base idea.

Also what kind of time are you thinking here? I know with Lovecraft that it's mostly steam/cyberpunk horror-esk kind of thing but are you thinking future, present or past? I'm just pointing out basic things that I'm sure you've got covered already but I've seen a few RP's/RPG's fail due to lack of basic info.

And if you are doing Cthulhu in game I suggest watching this first, just some tips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DyRxlvM9VM I know this is more toward video games, but the base ideas work.

How many people are you thinking of having or do you have a limit?

Oh Army of Two, what a ridiculous game you were. I liked the whole aggro part of the game, interesting mechanic of a third person shooter.

Thanks for all the input, I actually intend for it to take place in or around the 1920s. Not be combat-focused, but be able to have some means of self-defense for the players. The idea is that, up against eldritch abominations and ideas given form, humans don't really have a lot of effect on them.

There could be certain roles players could take from the beginning, such as a cultist (disguised to fit in with society better), a detective, a gangster, a more typical worker, etc. The idea is to actually role play well and take on your character, how he or she acts, how he or she thinks, what his or her goals are, and proceed in the shoes of that character.

As mentioned, I don't intend for this to be a "say two sentences and pass" sort of RP. My idea was to actually write this as if it were a book. Using indentation, paragraphs showing the players what is happening, what they are having their characters do, and what the environment is like (in good detail, no less).

Ideally, the RP I have in mind would be a horror story with several authors.

P.S. - And no, you cannot shoot Cthulhu.

I love the ideas coming along here, I like the idea of a supernatural horror in the 1920s, something I haven't seen before and would gladly play.

I agree with Matt that multiple authors could be hard and confusing, in my experience it is a bit easier to have one mastermind controlling the entire RP.

Matt- Very good point on the laziness of RPers and sometimes (I am guilty of this) the GM. I know I will be trying to fix myself back to my old ways.

Though I have found in some situations when you are playing an RP/RPG, the GM may not give you enough to work with as a character and you may be limited to a two sentence response to try and provoke more from the GM to either give you more information or simply to move the scenario on.

Okay, so the "effectively multiple authors" thing should remain as one main writer listening to the players.

I'll try to give a lot of information (when it is fitting to do so, at least). But short responses by players should be fine since I intend to use their responses as the way that their characters progress in the story.

Good combat system idea, Matt. Though I am new here and don't understand the dice and coin function too well yet.
Damage = 1 Hit or Miss = Heads

So something like this? Let's say heads = hit and tails = miss.

Maybe remove combat majoritively, it is lovecraft, so it's a lot of metal horror along with an actual physical threat. Maybe give the players weapons but show them how little they do against Cthulhu and the rest of the gang. Maybe an insanity level alongside a health meter. Like the mechanic in amnesia, and the higher that is the more "enemies" you encounter, that are just figments of your imagination.

How do you mean listening to the players? Maybe I'm getting the wrong end of the stick here but isn't the GM in charge of the entire game, throwing up scenarios and reacting to the players actions.

Maybe remove combat majoritively, it is lovecraft, so it's a lot of metal horror along with an actual physical threat. Maybe give the players weapons but show them how little they do against Cthulhu and the rest of the gang. Maybe an insanity level alongside a health meter. Like the mechanic in amnesia, and the higher that is the more "enemies" you encounter, that are just figments of your imagination.

That's the idea. But some eldritch horrors are physical, through and through.

How do you mean listening to the players? Maybe I'm getting the wrong end of the stick here but isn't the GM in charge of the entire game, throwing up scenarios and reacting to the players actions.

Yes. I intend to be a player like them, but as a player I would abide by the rules of the game. At the same time, I would run the RP, reacting to what the players say and do in a 3rd person omniscient point of view. I would encourage them as a player to keep the story from getting derailed, while enforcing the rules as the "DM" to keep them moving forward, help them out if they get stuck or lost, and so on.

P.S. - To note, there is no experience or leveling. Fighting monsters may make you battle-hardened, but humans only get weaker over time.

Alright. I plan on setting up a Sign-up and OOC thread for the RP soon enough.

Before that, though, I'd like to decide upon which Great Old One(s) should be involved as the "big bad", so to speak.

What I'm thinking for that is that however a main antagonist normally works could be how one such GOO works, though most likely not.

There are multiple possibilities for what the players will have to "face". The unique enemies have unique conditions for winning or losing against the players.

For example...

Elder Beings: Cthylla, Nyarlathotep
Win Condition(s): [to be discovered]
Defeat Condition(s): All players killed, All players insane, [to be discovered]

In this event, the players would have to learn how to succeed against any and all eldritch abominations. Not spoiling any story, but one possibility here is that both Cthylla and Nyarlathotep must be exiled back to the stars. However, the hidden Defeat Condition is "Nyarlathotep wins". Nyarlathotep might have its own Win Condition of dispatching Cthylla. In this case, if Cthylla is exiled while Nyarlathotep is still in the human plane, the players are defeated. Naturally, if Nyarlathotep is exiled first, then Cthylla, the players win.

So the players, in turn, might receive (probably not, but it's possible) help from one of the eldritch abominations if there are more than one.

I hope that makes sense.

Are you thinking everyone get a few pages to develop their character and the world before introducing a big bad? Then you could tell early if we're making mistakes about the atmosphere, time period or style and post suggestions or corrections in the OC thread.

That's actually a good idea. See, I've never made a forum game before, let alone a forum-based RP.

I intend to be available after it is started, but thanks for the tip on invisible walls. I read in the RP sticky thread in the Forum Games section that you shouldn't make a bunch of "invisible walls", but I have some ideas to get around potential de-railing. What's fun about psychological horror is that it is much more difficult to escape with your mind reeling from the madness, or aught like that.

Yes, of course. Backstories are as important as present stories and future stories, they are all just pieces of the whole continuity, after all.

The GM is just making sure everyone stays in the same playground and eventually goes through the same Exit gate.

Goes through the same Exit gate dead or alive, or even something in between. The story could definitely go places.

Well I guess in this case, it would be more like, "when a character tries to flee, have him get caught by a shoggoth lurking beneath the bridge out of town."

And that would actually be pretty nonlethal compared to cops, cultists, or wild animals.